Let’s hope Ford takes that line to heart. He was lucky “because the financial sanction imposed by Decision CC 52.1 was not authorized by the COTA or the Code. In other words it was a nullity.” But from Ford’s own testimony about his not bothering to learn the rules, he could easily have taken the same actions when there was a genuine pecuniary interest at play.

So he got lucky; he didn’t get off because his actions were correct, but because the sanctions imposed that he then spoke to and voted on were improper to begin with.

Let’s hope, going forward, he has enough sense to learn what his obligations truly are, and act accordingly. Given his past behaviour, though, the odds on that are about the same as winning 6/49.